No days off for Jasmine Alkhaldi as Olympian swimmer sets sights on upcoming SEA Games

BOCAUE — Jasmine Alkhaldi represented the Blackwater Elite in the opening of the 2019 PBA season held at the Philippine Arena on Sunday night.

After the festivities, the renowned Philippine swimmer briefly shared her plans on preparing for the upcoming SEA Games which will be held on November.

“Well, ultimately for me, this year talagang preparing for the SEA games here in the Philippines. As much as possible, I want to bring in as many medals – gold medals as I can. I actually didn’t have Christmas and New Year off.,” bared Alkhaldi.

“My first tune up race is in March sa Singapore. Blackwater has actually been supporting me for a training trip in Europe. I’m probably going to leave tomorrow or the next day and my first tuneup race is in March,” she further detailed.

The 25-year-old qualified for the FINA World Swimming Championship last 2018 and finished 27th out of the 94 entries in the 100-meter freestyle event, where the finals featured only the top eight participants.

The lone Filipina topped Thailand’s Nathanan Junkrajang as she clocked 55.38 seconds versus the latter’s 55.44. However, it was Ranomi Kromowidjojo from Netherlands who dominated, clocking in only 51.14 seconds.

After ending the event with a whimper, Alkhaldi, through the help of Blackwater, plans on fine-tuning her game for as early as possible in order to give herself the best chance to win.

“Last year was difficult because I really didn’t get to train abroad, so I wasn’t quite happy ‘yung sa performance ko sa with the Asian Games,” lamented Alkhaldi.

“This year with Blackwater’s help, actually I’m starting early -This is my first training trip abroad and we’re planning for one more in the summer, and maybe one more right before the SEA Games. I think I didn’t do anything bad. I’m hoping that I’ll really break my times this year because of the extra training that I’ll do,” she concluded.